Thursday, September 28, 2017
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
The Zoomusement Park
If you find yourself planning a family vacation to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, and there are members of you're party that just aren't that into animal attractions, fear not! The zoo also operates not one but TWO amusement parks on adjacent properties. Zoombezi Bay, located on Wyandot Lake, features over a dozen water park rides, while Jungle Jack's Landing has bumper cars, a roller coaster, and other rides. There's also a nearby golf course. Fun for Everyone!
... Right? Maybe not.
In recent years, zoos and aquariums have been caught in a somewhat schizophrenic bind.
On one hand, many - especially members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums - seek the legitimacy of scientific, conservation organizations. They wish to distance themselves from the circuses, or from the zoos of old with their chimpanzee tea parties.
On the other hand... well, zoos are expensive to operate. Aquariums arguably more so. All of that money needs to come from somewhere.
This divide shows itself in almost every aspect of the zoo, from which animals do you exhibit (common crowd-pleasers like lions and zebras, or obscure rarities, like crested toads and Guam rails?). Nowhere did it strike me as a hard as at Columbus. The idea first began to come to me, however, years ago when I was visiting the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. A keeper and I were walking around, when we passed a construction site. "What's that going to be?" I asked with some interest. The keeper's face darkened. "A water park," he snarled, spitting on the ground and stomping off.
Some keepers fear the cheapening of their profession by being lumped back in with organizations that solely use animals for entertainment. They feel that this leaves their institution more vulnerable to attacks from PETA and other anti-zoo organizations in the future. Others resent the redirection of funds, as well as space. I can see what they mean. Columbus is a fine zoo with many excellent exhibits. One of the least remarkable, however, was its elephant exhibit - no bad, just... a trifle old-fashioned, it seemed. I know elephant keepers and how they feel about their animals, and I could imagine the keepers at Columbus casting an envious eye to all of that land before it became an amusement park.
Many zoos offer what would best be described as rides in order to provide views of animals from a different perspective. The boat-ride through the islands exhibit of Columbus Zoo is a prime example. Many zoos have monorails, such as Dallas Zoo's Wilds of Africa. Others have skyrails, such as San Diego Zoo.
Columbus is an extreme example, but most zoos and aquariums do a little amusement-parking on the side. Endangered species carousels have popped up at zoo's all over the country (although, in Sailing with Noah, Jeffrey Bonner describes how the keepers at St Louis Zoo were aghast at the idea of adding one, disapproving of the message of having visitors riding on saddled zoo animals). Many zoos have added ropes courses, or kayak tours, or other games and activities.
I'm a purist at heart, myself, and would love for zoos and aquariums to be themselves, places where visitors can come to admire and appreciate the wonders of wildlife. That being said, I also spent a lot of time walking around Columbus slack-jawed and wondering how I could get that budget.
... Right? Maybe not.
In recent years, zoos and aquariums have been caught in a somewhat schizophrenic bind.
On one hand, many - especially members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums - seek the legitimacy of scientific, conservation organizations. They wish to distance themselves from the circuses, or from the zoos of old with their chimpanzee tea parties.
On the other hand... well, zoos are expensive to operate. Aquariums arguably more so. All of that money needs to come from somewhere.
This divide shows itself in almost every aspect of the zoo, from which animals do you exhibit (common crowd-pleasers like lions and zebras, or obscure rarities, like crested toads and Guam rails?). Nowhere did it strike me as a hard as at Columbus. The idea first began to come to me, however, years ago when I was visiting the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. A keeper and I were walking around, when we passed a construction site. "What's that going to be?" I asked with some interest. The keeper's face darkened. "A water park," he snarled, spitting on the ground and stomping off.
Some keepers fear the cheapening of their profession by being lumped back in with organizations that solely use animals for entertainment. They feel that this leaves their institution more vulnerable to attacks from PETA and other anti-zoo organizations in the future. Others resent the redirection of funds, as well as space. I can see what they mean. Columbus is a fine zoo with many excellent exhibits. One of the least remarkable, however, was its elephant exhibit - no bad, just... a trifle old-fashioned, it seemed. I know elephant keepers and how they feel about their animals, and I could imagine the keepers at Columbus casting an envious eye to all of that land before it became an amusement park.
Many zoos offer what would best be described as rides in order to provide views of animals from a different perspective. The boat-ride through the islands exhibit of Columbus Zoo is a prime example. Many zoos have monorails, such as Dallas Zoo's Wilds of Africa. Others have skyrails, such as San Diego Zoo.
Columbus is an extreme example, but most zoos and aquariums do a little amusement-parking on the side. Endangered species carousels have popped up at zoo's all over the country (although, in Sailing with Noah, Jeffrey Bonner describes how the keepers at St Louis Zoo were aghast at the idea of adding one, disapproving of the message of having visitors riding on saddled zoo animals). Many zoos have added ropes courses, or kayak tours, or other games and activities.
I'm a purist at heart, myself, and would love for zoos and aquariums to be themselves, places where visitors can come to admire and appreciate the wonders of wildlife. That being said, I also spent a lot of time walking around Columbus slack-jawed and wondering how I could get that budget.
And then, as I drove out at the end of the day and passed Zoombezi Bay, I remember. "That's how."
Monday, September 25, 2017
Zoo Review: Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
Some zoos are famous for a particular species that they display, such as the National Zoo with its giant pandas, or the San Diego Zoo with its koalas. Others are famous for an exhibit, such as Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo with its Lied Jungle. Of all the American zoos, there is only one that I can think of which owes its fame to a person. The facility is the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, and that person is Jack Hanna, its director emeritus.
When Hanna moved to the Columbus Zoo in 1978, legend has it that many of the local people didn't even know there was a zoo in Columbus (and, to be fair, there isn't - the zoo is in the nearby town of Powell, Ohio). With a lot of hard work and a whole lot of media coverage, "Jungle Jack" began to shape one of America's forgotten zoos into a premiere facility with some of the best exhibits and one of the finest collections in the country.
If Columbus Zoo has a celebrity besides Hanna, it would have been Colo, the world's first captive-born gorilla, who passed away this January. Colo's legacy lives on in the zoo's Expedition Congo trail, where the many members of the zoo's large troop (containing some of her descendants) may either be observed outdoors beneath a massive dome-like structure or inside in a multi-room viewing building. More primates found along the trail include mandrills, bonobos, and colobus monkeys. Grassy yards display okapi, duiker, and red river hogs, while leopards prowl a mesh-enclosed grassy yard with several climbing structures. A walk-through aviary features many species of African birds, including ibises, crowned cranes, and turacos. To my immense surprise, however, the exhibit which made the biggest impact on me was... the African gray parrot, one of the most common, sought-after pet parrots on the market. I'd seen them hundreds of times before, often surrendered pets being used as animal ambassadors, but never like this. A flock of ten or so flitted around a well-furnished enclosure the size of a studio apartment, flying together or bickering playfully as they scrambled across the branches. Watching the birds behave as they would in the wild, I realized how inadequate most private households are for caring for these birds, with a single parrot cooped up in a small cage for most of the day until the owners come home. Looking back on it, I suspect that was the idea behind the exhibit.
More African animals can be seen in the sprawling new Heart of Africa, where lions lounge on the wings of a small airplane that seems to have taxied halfway into their exhibit. Visitors who are a lot smaller and more nimble than me can creep into the cockpit and watch the lions sprawl across the windshield, or meander off to watch the savannah panorama behind them. In a sweeping grassy vista that lies past the lions, a host of African ungulates and tall savannah birds pick their way across a several acre grassland. Nearby, giraffes occupy a separate exhibit (or is it? I had a hard time telling...), where they can be fed from a viewing dock. A beautiful, lush yard in the foreground is a rotating exhibit, where cheetahs, spotted hyenas, warthogs, or other African mammals may be seen, depending on who is out when. Across the path, a troop of vervet monkeys appears to be raiding an unoccupied campsite (which, based on past experiences in East Africa, I can verify that they will readily do at the earliest opportunity).
Many zoos have remarkable African exhibits, but it's rare to find one that does as good of a job with our own continent as Columbus Zoo does. North America is perhaps best known for Nora, the neglected polar bear cub who was raised by the keepers of the zoo until she was sent out to the Oregon Zoo upon being successfully reared. While she is gone, there are still cubs present in the beautiful polar bear habitat, easily the best I've seen so far. Like many polar bear exhibits, it features a deep pool with magnificent opportunities for underwater viewing. Unlike many others, it also features a spacious green meadow pocked with boulders and logs that lets the polar bears act like... well, bears. More bears are found down the trail - grizzlies and American blacks. A nearby log cabin provides a sneak-peek into a habitat of rarely-exhibited wolverines. Along the trail visitors may also encounter gray wolves (the zoo is famed for its success in breeding Mexican gray wolves), bald eagles, sandhill cranes, American beavers, North American rivers otters, and an impressive collection of North American ungulates. Caribou inhabit a rather conventional corral, while moose immerse themselves in a deep pond and bison and pronghorn trot across a grassy yard. The later habitat can also be seen via a train which encircles the exhibit. For me, the surprising treat of this area was the songbird aviary, with a host of species - some commonly seen, like robins, some less-often, like orioles - flitting around. It's strange that these birds - if they hailed from South America or Africa - would probably be commonplace jewels in our collections. Since they are natives, we seldom give them notice.
Not to be outdone, Asia Quest starts of with... African black rhinos. Okay, but after that, it features Asian elephants, before feeding into a winding trail that ducks in an out of buildings. Red pandas, Asian cranes, tufted deer, and Pallas cats occupy outdoor exhibits, while reptiles and flying foxes can be seen indoors. Sun and sloth bears are observed from inside a building devoted to educating visitors about wildlife trafficking, before guests enter yet another walk-through aviary. Outside, markhor trot across a rocky cliff face, before visitors encounter the stars of the trail - the gorgeous Amur tigers. As with the wildlife trafficking building, the zoo doesn't shy away from potentially grim conservation messaging, using shattered statues and blanked-out signs to remind visitors that three subspecies of tiger are already extinct... and that the other five might not be too far behind.
The rest of the Asian collection is seen in Australia and the Islands, where visitors may observe the wildlife of Southeast Asia and Indonesia either by boat or by trail. Komodo dragons, orangutans, gibbons, and small-clawed otters are seen in the Asian portion, before Australia takes over. The Down Under section includes a kangaroo walk-through, a lorikeet feeding aviary, and much-beloved koalas. At the end of the trail is the Roadhouse, a nocturnal gallery that highlights the creatures of the Indonesia and Australian night. Wombats, kiwis, tree kangaroos, binturongs, and tawny frogmouths are among the residents of the darkened hallways, which then opens up into a beautiful, day-lit aviary. Parrots, waterfowl, ibises, and lapwings fly overhead or stroll down the path, while kookaburras inhabit a side-enclosure.
The aquarium portion of the facility's name is represented in the Shores area, a three-building complex that houses the zoo's fish and reptile collections. The conventional aquarium, Discovery Reef, features sharks, stingrays, and sea turtles among an 88,000 gallon saltwater coral reef. The Reptile House has an impressive collection of freshwater turtles and terrapins from around the world, as well as venomous snakes, dart frogs, and pythons; American alligators lurk in a habitat directly outside. The highlight for most visitors is Manatee Coast; along with Cincinnati Zoo, Columbus is one of the only US facilities outside of Florida to display these gentle giants. Manatees present in this exhibit are rescued animals that were injured by accidents in Florida; when they cruise past the acrylic walls of their tank, it's easy to see the terrible scars that were inflicted upon them by careless boaters. The manatees share their pool with a hawksbill sea turtle and a host of beautiful fish, while pelicans and ducks paddle overhead. More birds are seen outdoors in habitats for American flamingos and Humboldt penguins. A series of lovely sculptures and fountains nearby make for great photo ops.
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Satire: National Zoo Announces Giant Pandas to Divorce
WASHINGTON—Assuring the public that the decision was difficult but the right thing to do for all parties involved, the Smithsonian National Zoological Park announced Friday that their giant pandas would be divorcing. “After a lot of soul-searching and honest, often painful, discussions, we are sad to say that our two giant pandas, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, will be seeking a divorce,” said Michael Brown-Palsgrove, curator of the zoo’s Asia Trails and Giant Pandas section, adding that the couple had been sleeping on opposite sides of their enclosure for the past few months, a rift sources suggested was fueled in part by Tian Tian’s reluctance to have another cub. “For the time being, Tian Tian will be crashing on the rock outcropping in the enclosure of his friend Remi, a sloth bear, until he can find a more permanent place to stay. Although there’s much to be sorted out in terms of feeding schedules, what’s important now is that we focus on making this an easy transition for 2-year-old Bei Bei, over whom the pandas will share joint custody.” Brown-Palsgrove went on to say that in order to respect their privacy during this difficult time, the 24-hour panda cam will be turned off.
Friday, September 22, 2017
Great Feats of Feet
"'Professor Dumbledore. Can I ask you something?'
'Obviously, you've just done so,' Dumbledore smiled. 'You may ask me one more thing, however.'
'What do you see when you look in the mirror?'
'I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks.' Harry stared.
'One can never have enough socks,' said Dumbledore. 'Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.'
It was only when he was back in bed that it struck Harry that Dumbledore might not have been quite truthful. But then, he thought, as he shoved Scabbers off his pillow, it had been quite a personal question."
Dumbledore knows what's what.
There is no part of my zookeeping wardrobe that I fixate on a tenth as much as my socks. My shirts are speckled with bleach stains. My pants have holes of various sizes and interesting back stories. But my socks are inviolate.
Well, that's actually completely not true. They do get violated. A lot. After a typical day of work, I can get out of my socks and they'll still be standing upright even without my feet in them. That's what 12 hours worth of sweat and grime will do to a garment, I suppose. Especially when most of those hours are spent in rather moist conditions.
Socks are what I call my resource of limit for laundry. I'm willing to recycle almost any article of clothing without washing it in a pinch... but I don't think I could ever imagine wearing socks for two days without a wash. When I was younger and poorer, I tried saving laundry money by hand-washing my socks in the sink. The results were boots full of blisters. I never skimped on sock-washing again.
Besides socks, I have an admirable collection of shoes, of which I take no fashion pride in. There are tennis shoes for light walking around the zoo, rain boots which I slog through puddles in, insulated muck boots for the winter, and hiking boots for the long treks. They all line up under my desk in a mud-encrusted heap - I rarely seem to be wearing the right shoe or boot on the right day, but at least I have something to change into after absent-mindedly stepping into a slow-draining pool. Still, on the infrequent days when I'm at the desk for an extended period of time, I love to stealthily slip out of my shoes (hoping no one notices the smell) and wiggle my toes.
I mentioned a while ago, in the winter I would do anything to replace my frozen, frost-bitten hands. In the summer, I'd settle for a new set of feet. A few years back my family roped me in on the FitBit craze. To this day I have no idea why. My mother and my brother can be absurdly competitive, and the only thing they hate more than losing to each other is losing to me. And, apart from animal-themed categories on Jeopardy!, "Distances Walked Daily" is the only competition that I always come out on top of... or ever come out on top of, actually.
(My family had heard of the concept of letting the youngest child win occasionally at board games growing up, but they wanted no part of it).
On a regular day, I walk about 10 miles. It's been over 20 on some long occasions, and when you are on your feet that much, what you have on those feet really matters.
'Obviously, you've just done so,' Dumbledore smiled. 'You may ask me one more thing, however.'
'What do you see when you look in the mirror?'
'I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks.' Harry stared.
'One can never have enough socks,' said Dumbledore. 'Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.'
It was only when he was back in bed that it struck Harry that Dumbledore might not have been quite truthful. But then, he thought, as he shoved Scabbers off his pillow, it had been quite a personal question."
- J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Dumbledore knows what's what.
There is no part of my zookeeping wardrobe that I fixate on a tenth as much as my socks. My shirts are speckled with bleach stains. My pants have holes of various sizes and interesting back stories. But my socks are inviolate.
Well, that's actually completely not true. They do get violated. A lot. After a typical day of work, I can get out of my socks and they'll still be standing upright even without my feet in them. That's what 12 hours worth of sweat and grime will do to a garment, I suppose. Especially when most of those hours are spent in rather moist conditions.
Socks are what I call my resource of limit for laundry. I'm willing to recycle almost any article of clothing without washing it in a pinch... but I don't think I could ever imagine wearing socks for two days without a wash. When I was younger and poorer, I tried saving laundry money by hand-washing my socks in the sink. The results were boots full of blisters. I never skimped on sock-washing again.
Besides socks, I have an admirable collection of shoes, of which I take no fashion pride in. There are tennis shoes for light walking around the zoo, rain boots which I slog through puddles in, insulated muck boots for the winter, and hiking boots for the long treks. They all line up under my desk in a mud-encrusted heap - I rarely seem to be wearing the right shoe or boot on the right day, but at least I have something to change into after absent-mindedly stepping into a slow-draining pool. Still, on the infrequent days when I'm at the desk for an extended period of time, I love to stealthily slip out of my shoes (hoping no one notices the smell) and wiggle my toes.
I mentioned a while ago, in the winter I would do anything to replace my frozen, frost-bitten hands. In the summer, I'd settle for a new set of feet. A few years back my family roped me in on the FitBit craze. To this day I have no idea why. My mother and my brother can be absurdly competitive, and the only thing they hate more than losing to each other is losing to me. And, apart from animal-themed categories on Jeopardy!, "Distances Walked Daily" is the only competition that I always come out on top of... or ever come out on top of, actually.
(My family had heard of the concept of letting the youngest child win occasionally at board games growing up, but they wanted no part of it).
On a regular day, I walk about 10 miles. It's been over 20 on some long occasions, and when you are on your feet that much, what you have on those feet really matters.
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
I Don't Have a Thing to Wear...
It's a quiet night in, ideal for doing laundry. As I sort through a hamper that could only... and generously... be defined as "malodorous," it strikes me that 95% of the clothes in it are work-related. The shirts are work shirts, the pants are work pants, and the socks are ones carefully selected with a mind on how they will hold up in work boots that are covering 10 miles a day in wet conditions.
So far, no work-specific underwear options exist, so at least I have some freedom of choice there.
Outside of my few and far-between days off, I only have two outfits - work clothes, and pajamas. I go to work, I come home and shower, and then I go to bed. That's the result of being physically exhausted at the end of a long day, and not having a tremendous amount of disposable income for going out afterwards. No real complaints on the later - at the end of a long day, there is nowhere that I want to be more than home anyway.
A standard zoo uniform consists of a T-shirt (long-sleeved in the winter, sometimes coupled with a sweatshirt or fleece), khaki shorts (long-pants in the winter, or when I foresee a job that's going to be rough on my legs, like working in thick brush), and socks with sturdy boots. It's essential that the pants have lots of pockets... Lots of them, for keys and treats and fecal cups and bits of litter picked up along the ground. I've been told that we zookeepers are pretty much the only thing keeping cargo pants in production. A belt, of course, is essential, seeing as one's pants are constantly being forced down by the combined weight of a semi-functional radio and 86 pounds of miscellaneous keys. I keep a small number of shirts in reserve, saved for special occasions like tours or press conferences as which I may be expected to do something in front of a camera. My hamper aside, I think it's safe to say that three-fourths of my clothing has the name of my institution on it somewhere.
My parents, on the infrequent occasions when I make the trip to see them straight from work and in uniform, occasionally scold me for the state of my clothes. They'll insist that I go shopping in the near future to replace the khakis with the inconvenient rip near the crotch with a new set. What I have so far failed to convince them is that, on the day that those pants received that tear, they were "the new set." Clothing does not have a long shelf-life in a pristine state in my wardrobe.
As it were, my uniform is a rather benign one. The color of our shirts is one that doesn't make your eyes ache, and if I untuck my shirt and have my back to you (with no radio or keys visible), it would closely enough resemble street clothes. I'm grateful that my zoo never felt the need to adopt the ridiculous safari-chic garb, complete with phony pith-helmet. Likewise, I am glad that we've changed since the dawn of the last century, when zookeepers wore shirts and ties, with formal jackets and peaked caps. That strikes me as a horrible thing to have to wear under a summer sun when knee-deep in muck.
The one drawback of zoo uniforms is that they tend to have the zoo logo on them. This makes perfect sense at the zoo, but can be a headache after work, when you're stopping at the grocery store and intend for it to be a lightning raid, only to be stopped constantly by visitors who want to tell you about their last visit or ask about the newest baby, or a cashier who wants to start a lengthy philosophical debate on the ethics of zoos. Also - no drinking in zoo uniform, on or off of grounds - a logical if slightly irksome rule which has resulted in most of my friends keeping a spare non-zoo shirt squirreled away at all times.
So far, no work-specific underwear options exist, so at least I have some freedom of choice there.
Outside of my few and far-between days off, I only have two outfits - work clothes, and pajamas. I go to work, I come home and shower, and then I go to bed. That's the result of being physically exhausted at the end of a long day, and not having a tremendous amount of disposable income for going out afterwards. No real complaints on the later - at the end of a long day, there is nowhere that I want to be more than home anyway.
A standard zoo uniform consists of a T-shirt (long-sleeved in the winter, sometimes coupled with a sweatshirt or fleece), khaki shorts (long-pants in the winter, or when I foresee a job that's going to be rough on my legs, like working in thick brush), and socks with sturdy boots. It's essential that the pants have lots of pockets... Lots of them, for keys and treats and fecal cups and bits of litter picked up along the ground. I've been told that we zookeepers are pretty much the only thing keeping cargo pants in production. A belt, of course, is essential, seeing as one's pants are constantly being forced down by the combined weight of a semi-functional radio and 86 pounds of miscellaneous keys. I keep a small number of shirts in reserve, saved for special occasions like tours or press conferences as which I may be expected to do something in front of a camera. My hamper aside, I think it's safe to say that three-fourths of my clothing has the name of my institution on it somewhere.
My parents, on the infrequent occasions when I make the trip to see them straight from work and in uniform, occasionally scold me for the state of my clothes. They'll insist that I go shopping in the near future to replace the khakis with the inconvenient rip near the crotch with a new set. What I have so far failed to convince them is that, on the day that those pants received that tear, they were "the new set." Clothing does not have a long shelf-life in a pristine state in my wardrobe.
As it were, my uniform is a rather benign one. The color of our shirts is one that doesn't make your eyes ache, and if I untuck my shirt and have my back to you (with no radio or keys visible), it would closely enough resemble street clothes. I'm grateful that my zoo never felt the need to adopt the ridiculous safari-chic garb, complete with phony pith-helmet. Likewise, I am glad that we've changed since the dawn of the last century, when zookeepers wore shirts and ties, with formal jackets and peaked caps. That strikes me as a horrible thing to have to wear under a summer sun when knee-deep in muck.
The one drawback of zoo uniforms is that they tend to have the zoo logo on them. This makes perfect sense at the zoo, but can be a headache after work, when you're stopping at the grocery store and intend for it to be a lightning raid, only to be stopped constantly by visitors who want to tell you about their last visit or ask about the newest baby, or a cashier who wants to start a lengthy philosophical debate on the ethics of zoos. Also - no drinking in zoo uniform, on or off of grounds - a logical if slightly irksome rule which has resulted in most of my friends keeping a spare non-zoo shirt squirreled away at all times.
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
From the News: A 50-year effort to raise endangered whooping cranes comes to an end
Animal care technician Kathryn Nassar wears a costume and holds a crane puppet as she interacts with a 2-month-old whooping crane at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
Thankfully, in recent years Patuxent had begun to spread its cranes out among zoological facilities. When I was young, only one or two zoos exhibited whooping cranes. Now, they are increasingly common in our collections as more zoos join this breeding program. Hopefully, the new recruits will be enough to replace Patuxent's lost crane production.
All the same, I find this worrying. So many endangered species breeding and reintroduction programs in this country - California condor, black-footed ferret, red wolf - have seen a tremendous leadership role from the US Federal Government. It looks like those days may be over now.
In other words... we're on our own.
Monday, September 18, 2017
Species Fact Profile: Blue-Faced Honeyeater (Entomyzon cyanotis)
Blue-Faced Honeyeater
Entomyzon cyanotis (Latham, 1801)
Range: Southern New Guinea, Northern and Eastern Australia
Habitat: Open Woodland, Rainforest, Mangroves, Plantations
Diet: Insects, Nectar, Fruit
Social Grouping: Pairs, Small Flocks Up to 7 Birds
Reproduction: Round cup nests made of twigs and grass, often built atop the nests of other birds. Two (sometimes three) pink eggs with red-brown splotches. Both parents tend to the eggs. Incubation 16 days. Chicks born blind and almost completely featherless. Chicks remain with their parents to assist in rearing the next year's clutch of chicks.
Lifespan: 8 Years (Wild)
Conservation Status: IUCN Least Concern
- Body length 26-32 centimeters, weight 105 grams
- Largely white with black breast and head with olive green wings and a bare patch of blue skin around the eyes (this patch of skin is pale yellow in juveniles).
- Important pollinators of many Australian plants - forage using long tongue with brush-like tips to obtain nectar from flowers
- Sedentary in some parts of its range, migratory in others
- Sometimes form mixed-species flocks with yellow-throated miner birds; will work together to mob goshawks, owls, and other birds of prey
- Three subspecies - the nominate in eastern Australia, E. c. griseigularis in New Guinea (smallest of the subspecies), and E. c. albipennis in northern Australia (long bill, shorter tails, white wing patch)
- Some other birds - Pacific koels, pallid cuckoos - will lay their eggs in the nests of honeyeaters for the honeyeaters to hatch and care for
- Inquisitive and friendly, will enter campsites and gardens in search of food, will eat honey and jelly out of jars
Friday, September 15, 2017
One Last Word About HSUS
It seems that the entire zookeeping community has spent the last week online, doing little except post about the appearance of Humane Society of the United States CEO Wayne Pacelle's recent appearance at the AZA annual conference. There has been a lot of hand-wringing and a lot of accusations fired back and forth about who is or isn't in the right, and what this potential alliance means for the future of our profession. Some of the comments, to be blunt, have gotten a little nasty and personal, especially those directed towards animal care professionals who have any involvement with HSUS or *gulp* PETA.
Something that we're all going to have to confront one of these days is how do we interact with the people and organizations that are opposed to us? Do we ignore them - but that just leaves them an open field to work against us. Do we fight them tooth and nail - because sometimes that makes us look overly defensive, or look like we have something to hide. Do we try to work with them and find common ground - or is that just appeasement and inviting them to cause damage from within?
I will say, sometimes I feel like the posts online are one-part cute animal video, one-part zookeeping questions, and one-part anger over anti-zoo and aquarium sentiments we find online. Sometimes the same cheesy anti-zoo meme gets posted over and over and over again on the same day. I worry that we may be getting to the point where we are becoming more defined by what and who we oppose than we are about what we do and what we believe.
Something that we're all going to have to confront one of these days is how do we interact with the people and organizations that are opposed to us? Do we ignore them - but that just leaves them an open field to work against us. Do we fight them tooth and nail - because sometimes that makes us look overly defensive, or look like we have something to hide. Do we try to work with them and find common ground - or is that just appeasement and inviting them to cause damage from within?
I will say, sometimes I feel like the posts online are one-part cute animal video, one-part zookeeping questions, and one-part anger over anti-zoo and aquarium sentiments we find online. Sometimes the same cheesy anti-zoo meme gets posted over and over and over again on the same day. I worry that we may be getting to the point where we are becoming more defined by what and who we oppose than we are about what we do and what we believe.
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Sporcle Quiz: Sporcle at the Zoo - Ostrich
This month's Sporcle at the Zoo features the world's largest bird - and a regular feature of many zoos - the ostrich.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
A Word for Wayne Pacelle
Well, yesterday we get our first listen as to what Human Society of the United States leader Wayne Pacelle had to say to the assembled ranks of the AZA annual conference. Among many rank and file keepers and aquarists, the message was... not especially well received. Instead, there is the sense that the fox has been invited into the hen house, and that Mr. Pacelle and his organization will work to chip away at the zoo and aquarium community, remaking it in their image.
Just by virtue of being there, Mr. Pacelle was guaranteed to offend a fair number of his audience members. His speech, seen by many animal care professionals as an attempt to pit AZA and non-AZA facilities against one another, has let many of the later feeling bitter. The result is likely to be a hardening of feelings and a deepening of mistrust between AZA and other zoological facilities.
Here is what I wish Mr. Pacelle had chosen to say. It's a much shorter speech than the one that he gave, but I feel like it would have had the potential to have made a more positive impact.
"I'd like to thank the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for having me here today to speak with all of you. I know that in the past my organization has not always been a friend to the zoo and aquarium community. Too often, we've been fueding as two opposing sides, with neither of us winning and the animals that we all say that we care about being the losers. Today, I would like to end that feud. From now on, it is the policy of the Human Society of the United States to work in support of any organization that works towards better animal welfare. Whether you are a zoo or an aquarium or a sanctuary, accredited by the AZA or the ZAA, or by no one at all, as long as you provide for the physical and mental well-being of the animals under your care, constantly striving to raise your standards, you have our support. It's time to stop fighting against one another and start fighting for improved animal welfare, treating each other as partners, not adversaries."
Or something to that effect. Who knows? Maybe he'll have a chance to make a better speech later.
Just by virtue of being there, Mr. Pacelle was guaranteed to offend a fair number of his audience members. His speech, seen by many animal care professionals as an attempt to pit AZA and non-AZA facilities against one another, has let many of the later feeling bitter. The result is likely to be a hardening of feelings and a deepening of mistrust between AZA and other zoological facilities.
Here is what I wish Mr. Pacelle had chosen to say. It's a much shorter speech than the one that he gave, but I feel like it would have had the potential to have made a more positive impact.
"I'd like to thank the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for having me here today to speak with all of you. I know that in the past my organization has not always been a friend to the zoo and aquarium community. Too often, we've been fueding as two opposing sides, with neither of us winning and the animals that we all say that we care about being the losers. Today, I would like to end that feud. From now on, it is the policy of the Human Society of the United States to work in support of any organization that works towards better animal welfare. Whether you are a zoo or an aquarium or a sanctuary, accredited by the AZA or the ZAA, or by no one at all, as long as you provide for the physical and mental well-being of the animals under your care, constantly striving to raise your standards, you have our support. It's time to stop fighting against one another and start fighting for improved animal welfare, treating each other as partners, not adversaries."
Or something to that effect. Who knows? Maybe he'll have a chance to make a better speech later.
Monday, September 11, 2017
Wayne Pacelle at the AZA Conference
Today, during the AZA Annual Conference in Indianapolis, a somewhat... unwelcome... guest speaker made a guest appearance. Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the Human Society of the United States, addressed the general session of the AZA. HSUS has a rather complicated history with the zoo community. While they have been known to speak positively about the AZA, an organization which it has formed a rough partnership in recent years, they have likewise been known to attack, sometimes quite severely, other zoos and aquariums. Needless to say, their inclusion in this event has proven controversial.
A lot has been said about where AZA and HSUS stand with regards to each other and their missions. I thought it might be best if everyone heard it straight from the horse's mouth.
Saturday, September 9, 2017
Monday, September 4, 2017
Species Fact Profile: Inca Tern (Larosterna inca)
Inca Tern
Larosterna inca (Lesso, 1827)
Range: Pacific Coast of South America (Northern Peru to Central Chile)
Habitat: Coastlines, Cliffs, Islands
Diet: Small Fish, Carrion
Social Grouping: Flocks up to 100 Birds
Reproduction: Courtship displays include cackling, bowing, and aerial displays. 1-2 brown, speckled eggs are laid in a burrow, cave, or crevice (sometimes old Humboldt penguin nests). They are incubated for about 4 weeks; chicks fledge at 7 weeks. Both parents incubate the eggs and care for the chicks
Lifespan: 25 Years
Conservation Status: IUCN Near Threatened
- Body length 14-22 inches, weight 170-210 grams
- Plumage is charcoal gray with a black cap, black primary feathers, and a bright red bill and legs. Long white "mustaches" curl down from the base of the bill in adult birds. Small yellow patch of bare skin at the base of the beak
- Do not migrate, but will disperse widely during El Nino years in search of prey
- Have been reported to snatch scraps of fish right from the mouths of sea lions (also reported to be predated by sea lions)
- Harvesting of seabird guano has reduced the availability of natural nest sites, but Inca terns are adaptable and readily use artificial nest sites, such as abandoned buildings. More pressing threats are the depletion of food stocks due to overfishing and the introduction of rats and cats to some of the islands where they breed
Saturday, September 2, 2017
Put a Tiger In Your... Campus?
Well, at least someone is having some good news out of Louisiana lately. Louisiana State University has announced a new tiger is one campus. Yes, the mascot of LSU is the tiger, so technically with the start of the new school year, they've welcomed thousands of new "tigers" onto the campus. One of them, however, actually has stripes.
For several generations, the university has been home to a living, breathing, tiger. Traditionally, the animal attended games, a practice which has since discontinued. Now, the tiger - the seventh in the University's history, each named "Mike" - lives in a 15,000 square foot habitat attached to the football stadium. By all accounts that I've heard, it's a pretty nice habitat, compete with logs, a stream, and a waterfall, as well as an attached indoor enclosure.
So... a tiger... on a university campus... as in, one full of university students. Good idea, or bad?
Despite my initial balking, I've actually come around on the idea of the LSU tiger. It's worth noting that they didn't buy the animal (and haven't for generations) - instead, he was an animal in need of a home, adopted from a sanctuary. The habitat and care seem perfectly adequate, and being the university's only animal, receives their undivided attention.
Mike, the LSU Tigers mascot, is an 11-month old Siberian-Bengal mix. Courtesy of Eddy Perez, LSU
What really surprised me reading this article was PETA's - if not endorsement - at least tacit approval of the tiger situation. They've encouraged LSU to have itself accredited as a sanctuary, which it seems interested in doing. The main obligations are that they don't breed (appropriately, both for conservation purposes - Mike VII is a hybrid between two subspecies of tiger - and due to the over-abundance of abandoned/confiscated tigers in this country) and that there be no buying and selling. Both positions the university agrees to.
Now, the thing is, most universities - not all, but I'm willing to bet a sizeable majority - have animal mascots. I doubt that this would be a trend elsewhere... but it is a thought. Imagine a zoo's worth of animals scattered across the campuses of America...
It makes me wish, at least, that my university had had a cooler mascot... but only if I could have been its keeper
Friday, September 1, 2017
A Friend In Need Is A Friend Indeed
Over the past few day, the attention of the world has been fixated on Texas, Louisiana, and the damage inflicted by Hurricane Harvey. From the perspective of a zookeeper or an aquarist, a lot of the initial focus has been on how the institutions and the animals have been surviving. Thankfully, the response from the rest of our community has been astonishing, with facilities across the country pouring in support and equipment.
Now that the waters are receding, it's time to think of the keepers and aquarists of the area. They've worked their hardest to save their facilities and their animals from the storm. Now, after working hellish shift of Herculean efforts, many of them are coming home to find... they have no homes left. Or that their possessions are gone and their families (including pets) are displaced.
The Greater Houston Chapter of the American Association of Zookeepers has started a Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund to assist the keepers of the facilities in the Houston area.
Click here to learn how to help.